Method of treating fabric and product thereof



Patented June 22, 137

UNITED STATES PATENT" OFFICE rm'rnonon'rsstrrmo mm AND- PRODUCT THEREOFHerbert Platt, Cumberland, Md., assignor to Celanese Corporation ofDelaware America, a corporation of' No Drawing. Application February 14,1934, Se-

v rial No. 711,291

4 Claims.

5 yarns, to prevent the formation thereon of a surface sheen.

An object of the invention is to subject textile fabric to a' treatment,which causes reduction of the lustre thereof, wherein the fabric iscaused to become delustered and has no surface sheen. Other objects ofthe invention will appear from the following detailed description.

Often it is desirable to subdue the normally high lustre on fabricscontaining yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose. However when'sucha fabric is subjected to a delustering treatment under ordinaryconditions the deluster obtained is somewhat peculiar in that, when thefabric is held in a certain light, it appears quite delustered but, whenlooked at from another angle, it isobserved to possess a surface sheenwhich may at times, be quite lustrous. I have found that this sheen isgreater the greater tension placed upon the fabric during delustering. Ihave also found that by removing all tension from the fabric, whiledelustering same-there will be produced a true deluster without asurface sheen.

According to my invention, then, I deluster yarns containing organicderivatives of cellulose or more particularly fabrics formed from suchyarns by treating same in a suitable delustering bath in such a way thatthere is no or substantially no tension placed upon the yarns thatcontain organic derivatives of cellulose. By such a method a much lessdrastic treatment of the fabric produces a deluster that is greater,more even and without surface sheen than produced by methods formerlyemployed.

This invention is applicable to the treatment may be formed with a silkwarp and a cellulose acetate weft, or the fabric may be formed with acellulose acetate yarn warp anda'reconstituted cellulose, wool or cottonweft. The fabrics may be formed from the yarns by any suitable method,such as weaving, warp knitting, circular knitting, netting, knottinz.,braiding or other methods of forming textile fabric from yarns,

straws and bristles, etc.

The organic derivatives that most readily lend themselves to theformation of yarns, amenable to this invention, are the organic estersand ethers of cellulose, the ether-esters of cellulose and the mixedorganic and inorganic esters of cellulose. Examples of organic esters ofcellulose arecellulose acetate, cellulose formate, cellulose propionateand cellulose butyrate, while examples of organic cellulose ethers aremethyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose and benzyl cellulose. An example ofthe mixed esters of cellulose is nitrocellulose acetate.

The filaments or fibers of organic derivatives of cellulose, or otherartificial filaments employed to form at least a part of some of theyarns of the fabric, may be lubricated. Examples of lubricants 'areolive oil, teaseed oil, mineral oil, gylcols, glycerols, ethoxy butyrateand mixtures of these and similar compounds that may-or may not containa delustre promoting agent for example phenol, hexaresorcinol, cyclohexanol, xylene, organic acids and. similar agents.

Any suitable delustering agent may be emplayed in my process. Examplesof such 'delustering agents are wet steam, water at or near the boilingpoint, say from to C. or hot aqueous solutions containing soaps or othersalts that promote the delustering action. The action in these aqueousbaths may be speeded up by employing a delustre promoting .agent in thelubricant for the yarn. The material may be delustered by theprecipitation therein of a white insoluble salt such as barium sulphateor zinc sulphide. This is done by treating the same with a solution ofan alkali earth salt, such as barium chloride, or a zinc salt such aszinc chloride,

which solution either contains or acts as a swell.-

lustering medium, such aids as xylene, naphthalene, phenol, silk gum andsimilar compounds or mixtures of these may be present. Thus a dewhenemploying a heated soap bath as the delustering bath may be formed of 20parts phenol, 20 parts Turkey red oil in an aqueous medium containing 20grams per litre of soap or the delustering bath may be formed of 5%xylene, 5% naphthalene, 60% Turkey red oil and water. The soap baths forcertain delustering purposes may contain protective salts, such forexample as sodium sulphate.

The delustering bath may also contain a dye for the fabric, in whichcase the fabric is delustered and dyed simultaneously. If desired, thefabric may be dyed either before or after the delustering treatment, butI prefer to do the same after such treatment, in which case no specialprecautions are necessary in the dyeing to avoid distortions orwrinkles.

The fabric may be delustered by padding same with a delustre promotingagent and then subjecting it to treatment in an aqueous bath, theaqueous bath acting as the delustering agent.

During the delustering treatment, the fabric or yarn is so suspended orsupported'that the tendevice with as little resistance as possible set"up by the feed roll.

During the delustering treatment of fabric, all yarns of which containorganic derivatives of cellulose, which includes woven fabrics, warpknit fabrics and circular knit fabrics, the fabric material is supportedto prevent tension. Thus the material may be folded in a vat and thedelusteh.

ing bath added thereto and drained therefrom 101 the fabric may besupported on a traveling apron or a multiplicity of rollers as it iscarried through a delustering bath or other types of conveyors may beemployed. Other methodsof treatment wherein no tension is placed on thematerial may be employed other than stated above without departing fromthe spirit of my invention.

If the weft of a woven fabric As illustration and not as a limitationthe 101- lowing example is given.

Example without a dye therefor being present. The fabric is so folded onthe bottom of the tank containing the bath that it is in a flat lyingcondition. The temperature of the bath is then raised to above C. andmaintained at such a temperature until the desired delustre of thefabric is obtained. The fabric is then removed, dried and finished inthe customary manner.

' It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description isgiven merely by way of illustration and that many variations may be madetherein, without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patentis:

1. The method of delustering textile fabric,

' containing yarns of organic derivatives of cellulose, which comprisessubjecting the fabric, while free from tension and in a flat lyingcondition, to

the action of a delustering agent.

2. The method of delustering textile fabric, containing yarns ofcellulose acetate, which comprises subjecting the fabric, while freefrom tension and in a fiat lying condition, to the action of adelustering agent.

3. The method of delustering textile fabric, containing yarns of organicderivatives of cellulose, which comprises subjecting the fabric, whilesupported so that the cellulose derivative yarn is substantially freeboth from applied tension and from tension due to the weight of thefabric, to the action of a hot aqueous delustering bath.

4. The method of delustering textile fabric,

' eontaining yarns of cellulose acetate, which comprises subjecting thefabric, while supported so that the cellulose derivative yarnis'substantially free both from appliedtension and from tension due tothe weight of the fabric, to the action of a hot aqueous delusteringbath.

HERBERT PLA'I'I.

